In the United Kingdom, the term, state school, refers to government-funded schools which provide education free of charge to pupils. In England and Wales the term public school is often used to refer to fee-paying schools.

Because of the tier 4 register of sponsors , students from a visa required country can not be registered in these schools.

HOME STAY ACCOMADATION: International (only EU citizens ) students who would like to attend day schools , must have a home to stay. This system works very well in UK. Families are paid weekly/monthly.They share their house, actually their life.This is a good oppurtunity to experience real British life style.

STATE-MAINTAINED BOARDING SCHOOLS

State Boarding schools provide high quality boarding at the lowest possible cost to parents. UK and other European Union nationals and others with the right of residence in the UK pay only for the cost of boarding, while the education is free.

A state boarding school - of which there are just 35 - will charge for boarding, but not for tuition. Their fees are therefore about half of those in the independent sector, ranging from £2,000 - £4,000 per term. UK and other European Union nationals and others with the right of residence in the UK pay only for the cost of boarding, while the education is free.

List Of State Maintained Boarding Schools

ARTICLES ON STATE MAINTAINED BOARDING SCHOOLS

ARTICLE ON STATE BOARDING
State boarding - education's best-kept secret

There are 36 unique schools in England and Wales which combine a high quality state-funded education with parent-funded modern boarding facilities. These state boarding schools are often described by those in the know as ‘education’s best kept secret’.

State boarding schools have traditionally been the educational choice of many Forces’ families based overseas, who wanted a stable environment and high-quality education for their children. They found that state boarding schools provided the ideal solution – state-funded education and the provision of boarding facilities in a modern, caring environment at reasonable cost.

Word spread, and now state boarding schools provide an attractive option for many UK-based families too. The schools vary enormously. Parents can choose one which is primarily a day school, with just 40 or so boarders, or a school which is primarily a boarding school with up to 500 boarders. They can select one where their child can take an International Baccalaureate, one where they will have ensuite bathroom facilities, or one with a strong religious ethos. They can pick a school within shouting distance of the Lake District or one within the M25. They can opt for a school with outstanding sports facilities, or with a strong reputation for music. The choice is theirs and their child’s.

Weekly boarding options are an increasingly popular aspect of state boarding schools, especially for busy parents who want to be sure that their children are being educated in a safe and stimulating environment and where there is plenty to do in the evenings. Many parents report that weekly boarding has strengthened the bond with their children and ensures that family time at the weekend is ‘quality time’ free from hassles about homework.

With a typical boarding fee at a state boarding school being around a third of the cost of fees at an independent boarding school, boarding in the state sector is affordable for more families than is often thought.

So long gone are the days when children were ‘sent away’ to boarding schools where a climate of fear flourished amongst the spartan facilities. Not only do state boarding schools these days pride themselves on their pastoral care, their facilities and the strong partnerships with parents but, most importantly, the students themselves love their boarding experience, many describing it as ‘living with friends’.

The State Boarding Schools’ Association (SBSA) provides information and advice to families wanting to find out more about state boarding, raises awareness of state boarding as an education option and lobbies for greater recognition of state boarding schools in the political arena. Melvyn Roffe is Head of Old Swinford Hospital in Stourbridge and chairs SBSA. He speaks unequivocally about the prospects for the sector: ‘The state boarding sector has been both overlooked and undervalued in recent years, but at last people are beginning to see what it can do for thousands of young people and their families.’

Finding out moreA visit to the SBSA website will give general information on state boarding, illustrate the geographical spread of SBSA schools and give information on availability of places. There are direct links from the SBSA site to all state boarding schools so parents can look in detail at each of the schools on offer. Visit www.sbsa.org.uk to find out more today.

Copies of A Parents’ Guide to State Boarding can be downloaded free from the website or obtained from the Boarding Schools’ Association on 020 7798 1580.

Boarding Schools' Association: The state of state boarding

Monday, 02, Jun 2008 12:00
Boarding schools are not all independent: there are 35 state boarding schools in the country, with almost 4000 boarders between them. And numbers of boarders are rising – up 3% on last year.
At state boarding schools, parents pay for boarding, but the state pays for education. This makes the state boarding schools excellent value for money.
A crucial point is that education in these schools is likely to be extremely good, a far cry from the state schools which were slated in Saturday’s Guardian by Chris Parry, the new CEO of the Independent Schools’ Council.
The Guardian admits that some of its quotations from Chris Parry were taken from a wide-ranging interview, so who knows quite what the context of the comments was. But there is no doubt that there are many excellent state schools in Britain today, and the state boarding schools are likely to be among them.
H. Moriarty
National Director
Boarding Schools’ Association and State Boarding Schools’ Association

A safe haven for state pupils in need

Government funding may finally address the huge demand for places at state-run boarding schools
Dawn breaks over Wainfleet Hall, a country house set in tranquil Lincolnshire parkland. Its sleepy inhabitants are woken with a 6.45am call and, after a hearty breakfast, set off to the local train station. No, they're not holiday makers; they're boarding students at Skegness Grammar School, whose website reads somewhat like a hotel brochure. The school has extensive grounds, tasty meals, and a new 52-inch plasma TV in the sitting-room.

State boarding schools, where the teaching is free and the boarding costs far less than the independent sector, are undergoing something of a revival. There are now 35 state schools with boarding facilities, with 22 offering the chance to board during the week only. Boarding at a state school costs around £7,000 a year, which is equivalent to a single term's fees in the independent sector.

Most are heavily oversubscribed, according to the State Boarding Schools Association (SBSA), with as many as five applications for every sixth form place. At Hockerill Anglo-European College in Hertfordshire, for example, there were 119 applications from girls this year – and only 24 spaces.

"In general the demand is because boarding suits modern parents," says Hilary Moriarty, national director of the Boarding Schools Association. "If both parents work long hours, perhaps with frequent business trips abroad, who looks after the children?"

Moriarty believes parents also see a better climate for learning in the state boarding sector. "Parents think, 'I could send my child to the state school at the end of the road and he might get stabbed coming home, or he can go to a state boarding school and be playing football at 9pm on a floodlit pitch.'"

State boarding schools are known for their strong academic results. This is due in part to supervised prep, which can run for two hours each evening. "Sending your child to boarding school is better than them coming home at 4pm to an empty house," says Moriarty. The number of deaths of young people on the streets this year – and the media coverage – has stoked parents' fears, she thinks. Boarding, she says, is seen as a safe haven.

Malcolm Lloyd, chair of the SBSA and head of Brymore School in Somerset, is a former boarder who attended an independent school in Suffolk because his parents decided the local alternative in South-east London was not to their liking. Being a boarder taught him how to make a bed with hospital corners, clean his shoes, get on with people 24 hours a day, speak in public, and organise himself and others. "I was also able to excel at sport and make friends for life," he says.

Brymore recently received £3.4m to build new boarding accommodation., without which the school would have been in danger of closing.

Now the Department for Children, Schools and Families has announcedthat it is making £10m available over the next three years to support the expansion of state boarding. In particular, it believes that new places could help vulnerable children, by providing stability, a settled social group and a range of after-school activities.

The Royal Alexandra and Albert School in Surrey is the second largest state boarding school in the UK. It provides 53 free places for vulnerable children through its own educational charity. Referrals are made by primary school heads, vicars, parents and grandparents, and experience shows that vulnerable children may have a parent with mental health problems, terminal illness, or drug addiction. The school also has a handful of boarders funded by the local authority.

"Boarding school provides a structure for these children, as well as expectations about behaviour," says the school's head, Paul Spencer Ellis. "We talk to the child first, and they are perfectly able to weigh up the situation and make a decision about whether they want to board."

The school recently applied for £2.4m government funding to build 42 new en-suite study rooms. It received the funding two weeks ago and can now increase the number of free places to 65, which will go some way towards meeting demand.